Month: December 2012

Planning the Laundry

In England the washing machine and dryer are generally in the kitchen.

As a consequence the laundry in our first house we built was tiny. It was just big enough to fit the washing machine, dryer, laundry trough, and a walkway about 800mm wide to the back door.

After ten years in that house we decided that the next laundry would be bigger.

Our current house has a laundry that includes room for washing baskets, and a linen press. We also have room to store the ironing board, brushes and mops. I am still not sure however I have got everything the laundry right.

I have tried to list all the things below you might want in this undervalued room besides having a home for the laundry appliances and the trough:

  • Baskets for dirty linen and clothes baskets.
  • Room for baskets of laundry brought in from the washing line before they are folded
  • Storage of soaps, detergents, toilet rolls.
  • Room to set up an ironing board.
  • Rail for ironed clothes.
  • Airing rack.
  • Laundry press.
  • Television, to watch while doing the ironing.
  • Hooks for gardening clothes and a boot storage rack.
  • Pet food storage.
  • Dog basket.
  • Storage for mops, buckets, brushes, and a vacuum cleaner.

I am not saying you need to have room for all these things but its worth considering what space you want.

Other things to think about are

  • Installing a floor drain to protect the rest of the house in case of floods.
  • Putting the machines on a plinth to save all the bending over.
  • Making sure a drier can be vented to the outside.
  • Plumbing to allow grey water to be collected for garden watering.

Do you have any tips for laundry planning?

 

See Electrical Planning for Electrical fit out of your Laundry

 

Bell Trap – Win

See what I have to deal with when calling on people to organise sewer inspections……a bell push set in a rabbit trap!

Do you think the house owner has had too many people calling to ‘Save Their Souls’.

Or they just don’t like their relatives?

With some trepidation I did press the button, to hear a sound rather like Lurch (from the Adams  Family) opening a creaky door.

A great idea, well executed! It kept me smiling for the rest of the day.

For more Unusual Houses and Fails see What the………………….?

 

 

Living While you Build – Cost

Living costs during the time your new house build can be much more expensive than after you have moved in. Its well worth planning for the additional expense.

Why is it expensive?

Well you will have either a mortgage or rent on where you live now, You will also be paying the mortgage on your new block, plus the mortgage on the stage payments on the house construction.

In the last couple of months of build you could be paying close to twice the monthly cost of the final mortgage. If the build is delayed things can really go pear shaped with regard to debt.

There is the opportunity in a standard building contract to have a liquidated damages amount which can help control the risk. In our last building contract this was set at $250/week (which would pay the rent on the place we were living in) if the build took over a year.

If you are unmarried and still living at home, or can move back with family for the time of the build, that can really help. For the rest of us its a case of making sure that we budget for the additional costs and putting some cash aside.

It’s worth remembering that if you have selected the right size of house you should be able to afford more than the basic mortgage on your new house so that you can stand possible future interest rate rises.

Just make sure that when you move the credit card isn’t maxed out. There are usually lots of costs up after the move such as blinds, curtains, additional furniture and gardens. All things needed, to finish off your house.

If you think all this as a major obstacle, then perhaps building isn’t the way to go. Buying an established house or finding a house/land deal with a standard real estate contract deal of 10% deposit and the balance at settlement may be better options.
 

For more posts about decisions like this see Starting Off

 

Concrete – Pavement Joints 2

Contraction Joints have been previously described in Pavement Joints 1

The second most common form of Joint is the Expansion, or Isolation Joint.

Although concrete does shrink as it cures, in hot weather it will expand.

Unless an allowance is made for  the expansion the concrete paving can push foundations. In long runs of concrete it can create a hump in the paving like the photo below.

The following sketch shows a typical Expansion Joint against a building.

Holes are drilled into the concrete and steel ‘dowel bars are grouted in, so they all face the same direction. In order to stop the concrete holding onto the dowel and stopping the expansion the dowel is fitted with a close fitting plastic sleeve both the joint and the end cap are also fitted with a compressible foam.

 

For more posts on on getting your paths and driveways correct see Concreting

 

READ the small print

I’ve been driving past this lighting store with the Closing Down board outside for the last year.

It was only last week when I had a job in the area, and I was walking, that I had the chance to look more closely at the board.

This is a a photo of the top left corner of the board, which shows the writing you can’t see from the car.

It only goes to show…… You should always check the small print!

 

For more unusual and funny housing related pictures go to What the………………….?

 

Roof Choice – Risk

Something you might never have thought about when thinking about the sort of roof that you want on your new house is Risk.

Low Risk

A conventional roof which slopes to the outside can be considered to be a low risk roof.

In severe weather conditions heavy rain can exceed the capacity of the gutters and the downspouts causing an overflow. Blockages in the gutters and downspouts will also cause overflows

With a conventional roof the gutters will overflow to the outside of the building as shown in the diagram to the right avoiding damage to the inside of your home.

High Risk

A couple of other roof choices are of much higher risk.

These are:

Roof with Parapet

This sort of construction is used to give the effect of a Flat Roof, although there is actually a pitched roof behind the parapet wall.

As you can see from the diagram in severe rain, or a blockage, there is a greater risk of the overflow occurring inside the house.

Butterfly Roof

A butterfly roof is when two pitched roof panels fall to a central box gutter.

Again you can see the real risk of overflow into the house in case of problems.

 

What the Regulations Say

For a ‘High Risk Roof’ the regulations require the roof plumbing to be be designed for a heavier storm (1 in 100 years), rather than 1 in 20 years for a ‘Low Risk Roof’.

A ‘High  Risk Roof’ drainage system also require special  overflows to be installed.

This link will show you how to calculate the rate of rainfall used in design: Rainfall Intensity

In practice I hear of a number of non complying plumbing installations, and many of the overflows I see don’t look to have adequate capacity.

Did anyone check your roof drainage calculations? ……..If I chose a high risk roof it would be something I wanted to be checked thoroughly.

 

Also see Whats on the Roof

and Want a Flat Roof

 

Internal Doors

Most internal doors these days are of lightweight composite construction. Basically a light timber framework with two hardboard ‘skins’ and a cardboard honeycomb filler.

Not the best thing is you have got teenagers who love slamming doors !

These type of doors are really inexpensive……………..

I recently replaced a damaged door and the door cost less than $50 and came primed, complete with hinge plates. and with a latch already fitted.(Many builders now buy door frames with hinge plates already fitted and the doors are installed by just pushing a hinge pin into place.)

The question for you when specifying your new house is:

“Although the standard internal door is cheap is it the best door for me?”

Appearance

Here are a just 3 of a wide range of doors available at my local DIY store.

A couple of low additional cost alternatives to the basic painted door that I believe are worth thinking about are:

  • A veneer face, typically maple.
  • A formed panel skin.

Strength
Getting a stronger internal door such as a solid door can have the following advantages.

  • Lower noise transmission…………good for home theaters and to isolate the laundry noise.
  • Fire Safety……….good for kitchen doors and internal doors to the garage.
  • Storage……….easier to install hooks on.

Just remember though that if you want a particular look you can get it, but the cost could be $300 or more per door which can add up if you upgrade every door in your new house.

What type of internal doors do you like ?

 

Want all the information about Pre-Start/ Selection, with handy printable checklists?…….  Why not buy my E-book ‘Guide to Selection’ for just $4

 

$500 Down For A New House ….A Good Idea?

With the house builders doing it tough you see all sorts of offers.

On the radio the other day I heard an advert saying “$500 down and you could be on the way to a new house and land package.”

If you feel tempted here are a few thoughts:

  • Deals like this mean you are borrowing more than 90% of the price of the house. This is a high risk mortgage so the provider will be charging extra interest and insurances which mean the overall cost will be higher.
  • When you buy a new house there are a lot of extras you need to budget for curtains, blind, furniture, gardens, the list goes on (See What Will It Cost?). Its not going to be easy in your new house if you have a huge mortgage, and your credit card maxed out on furniture and fittings.
  • Have you got a reserve of money in case you or your partner looses a job, gets pregnant, or becomes ill.
  • If property prices go down and things go wrong you may find that you owe more than the house is worth, This is known as Negative Equity!

I would be very reluctant to commit to a new house unless:

  1. I could put down a minimum deposit of 10%.
  2. Had the equivalent of at least 3 months wages saved for emergencies.
  3. Spoken to a bank or other lender to see what they would be prepared to lend  us, and knew it would cost less than 1/3 our combined incomes.

Do you think I am being too careful?
 

Budget has more posts about finding a house the right size for you.

 

Rainwater Tank – Outlet Location

In Understanding Tank Water Quality I explained that the typical tank outlets is located close to the bottom of the tank. This takes the dirtiest water from the bottom of the tank,rather than the cleanest water near  the top.

So what can you do?

Well the simplest solution is to put a second  outlet further up the tank, as shown below.


The top outlet is then used for the supply to the house, while the lower outlet is used to supply a garden tap.

The following schematic shows a typical installation.

Normal operation is with Valve 1 open supplying the pump, and Valve 2 open supplying a garden tap. Valve 3 is left shut.

The garden top would only have the pressure of the tank so it could only be used for low pressure jobs like filling a watering can. At extra cost you could add a separate pump.

When the tank level drops below the top outlet Valve 3 can be opened to supply the pump. Although this water is taken from the bottom of the tank most of the substandard water should have been drained off to the garden.

The outlet should also be on the opposite side of the tank to the Inlet.
 

Outlet Modification shows a low cost modification to further improve the quality

To help you pick a tank see Round or Slimline Tanks

 

Exit mobile version